Nash Among Six Finalists for Inglewood Schools Chief

Inglewood school district trustees have selected six finalists for superintendent, including McKinley Nash, the former Lawndale superintendent who was fired amid allegations of racial tension in the schools.

Nash was among 31 applicants for the position now held by George J. McKenna III, whose contract expires next month. Other finalists include a deputy superintendent in Compton and a Torrance occupational school administrator.

Inglewood schools are facing many problems, including violence, ethnic tension and calls for more bilingual teachers. In addition, the district has been beset by financial woes.

The same day last August that school trustees voted 3-2 not to renew McKenna’s contract, county education officials announced they were assigning a fiscal overseer to the district.

School board members narrowed the list of candidates to six at a May 3 meeting, said Wilson Riles, the former state schools superintendent hired to find Inglewood’s new top administrator. Trustees were to interview the finalists today and Friday, he said.

Candidates were selected because of their experience working in a multiethnic district and handling finances, Riles said.

The other finalists are Thelma Moore, deputy superintendent of the Compton Unified School District; Eunice (Elizabeth) Nash, superintendent of the Southern California Regional Occupational Center; Joseph B. Crawford, assistant superintendent of the San Gabriel Unified School District; Linda T. Fortenberry, associate superintendent of New Orleans Public Schools in Louisiana, and Julian Lopez, former superintendent of the Mountain View Elementary School District in El Monte.

The Nashes are not related.

McKinley Nash, who is an administrator for the Assn. of California School Administrators, served as superintendent of Centinela Valley Union High School District in Lawndale from 1983-90.

He was fired from his post four months after 2,500 students walked out of their classes to protest racism at the district’s two high schools.

Two board members later accused Nash and other district employees of helping instigate the student demonstration to undermine the school board. Nash denied any involvement with the protest.

The district agreed to pay Nash $150,000 in 1992 to settle a racial discrimination claim he filed, as well as two lawsuits that stemmed from a dispute over his contract.

He did not return calls regarding his application for the Inglewood post.

Moore, 46, who served as deputy superintendent of the Richmond Unified School District before moving to the Compton school district in 1991, said Inglewood schools need more effective teacher development programs.

“They need a lot more bilingual and culturally competent teachers,” she said.

Crawford served as superintendent of the Pomona Unified School District from 1979-84, when a newly elected school board voted not to renew his contract. He was hired as assistant superintendent in the San Gabriel Unified School District in 1991.

“Almost all budget people think they have to cut expenditures, but (the Inglewood district has) to increase income,” Crawford said.

Eunice Nash, superintendent at the Torrance-based Southern California Regional Occupational Center, declined to comment on her candidacy for the Inglewood post.

Lopez was assistant superintendent of education services for the Montebello Unified School District from 1984-88 before moving to the Mountain View school district.

Fortenberry has been superintendent for New Orleans public schools since 1992.

Lopez and Fortenberry could not be reached for comment.